Why a guy dressed as Genghis Khan was roaming uptown with a horse

In case you saw a guy dressed up as Genghis Khan roaming the streets of uptown with a horse earlier this week, here’s the scoop.

The good folks over at Discovery Place were engaging in a little guerrilla marketing over the lunch hour on Nov. 14. They were hitting up all the hot spots, at Trade and Tryon, in front of the Duke Energy building, Romaire Bearden Park, the Bechtler and more.

Julie Campbell, social media manager for Discovery Place, and her intern Katie Thomas were along to promote the opening of the “Genghis Khan” exhibition that begins Friday at Discovery Place.

The guy on horseback who was portraying Genghis Khan was Gankhuyag “Ganna” Natsag, a Mongolian artist who was one of the lead installers of the exhibition “Genghis Khan.”

The exhibition is presented by Wells Fargo and curated and developed by dinosaur expert Don Lessem, who went to Mongolia originally looking for fossils and instead pursued the story of Genghis Khan.

“It’s a great story best told in a major exhibition,” Lessem said.

For us modern types, the exhibition will be experienced as though you were a Mongolian resident from the 1100s to the early 1200s, with six key scenes throughout Genghis Khan’s life and the lives of his sons and grandsons. There will be more than 200 objects on display including musical instruments, weapons and relics that defined the Mongol Empire.

The exhibition begins Friday night, Nov. 18 with Science on the Rocks: Ultimate Warrior. From 5-9 p.m., jump into an Ultimate Warrior Obstacle course, sumo suit wrestling (always a hit on your FB timeline!) and Mongolian mask making to enhance the experience. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

The exhibition opens to the general public Saturday, Nov. 19 at 11 a.m. (members can check it out early, from 9-11 a.m.) and runs through the end of April 2017.

Tickets to see the exhibition cost $17 for adults, $15 for seniors and $13 for children ages 2-13. Kids younger than 2 get free entry.

Discovery Place: 301 N. Tryon St.

Photos: Jonathan Lee and Darryl Moran Photography/TFI

This story was originally published November 17, 2016 at 10:03 PM with the headline "Why a guy dressed as Genghis Khan was roaming uptown with a horse."